Protective, yeah my ass

What was meant to be a half day bike+hike ended with a broken collarbone and two days in the hospital in Obwalden. Clemens and I left at 7:00 from Stansstad, and biked to Glaubenbielen road via Wilen. Super nice and pristine scenery, there was some fog but it was clearing up as we came closer to Giswiler stock. We biked up to Sandboden and then hiked towards Furgge on the other side. Well, it was more trail running than hiking. Above 1400 m there was still quite a bit of snow, which is probably why we lost our path and ended up in the wrong valley. We hiked up across a steep snow field, then rubble, then grass, and the we reached the ridge. Very nice up there, very exposed. We hiked towards Giswiler Stock (I guess I will come back for Schafsnase some other time). At the Gipfelkreuz we had a coffee, and started our very fast descent. Found our bikes again and rushed down Glaubenbielen road, all fun and good. It happened in Alpnach Dorf, where I got in between Clemens and a guy we were passing. Suddenly I became faster, but I didn't have any space to maneuver. I touched Clemens' back tire, lost control of my bike, and fell - at over 40 kmh - on my back. Must be the toughest blow I ever took. I slid across the asphalt for a few meters, and then the pain hit me. I could immediately feel that something was broken, and then I felt and saw how my chest looked really weird. Luckily nothing more serious happened. My bike was also fine! Long story short: I recovered, but that was a close one. Hope that was the last accident for a while...

This was a two day tour in the Gauli area, in the uppermost valleys of the Berner Oberland (I can finally say that I skitoured the famous Bernese alps :-). But before we could get on our ski, we had to get from Innertkirchen to Handegg. This took a bit longer, because the bus didn't come (!). Wow, another premiere for this weekend. After we got up to Räterichsboden, we entered the Bächlital where we met Adrien, who biwaked the night up here, coming somewhere from Goms. At noon we crossed the Obri Bächlilicken between Bächlistock and Gross Diamantstock. Very interesting, about 25 m on iron ladders, and on the other side a steep passage with chains. After lunch break, we skied down to Gaulisee across the glacier, and went through a bunch of different snow types. Fine slush at the top, mashed potatoes at the bottom. A bit later we reached Gaulihütte. So far so good.
The next day we got up a bit earlier, at 4:30, to check the weather. It was really shitty, very rainy. So, instead of going up to Rosenlauihorn across the Gauligletscher, we went back to where we came from. Half way up the glacier it started snowing and the wind got stronger. It felt like quite the adventure when going down the ladders. We skied back to Bächlital through ice cold rain. The other way may have been better. I can still hear Adrien going "grrr" when we got to Meiringen and it was super sunny....

Naja, waren nicht ganz oben...

I was visiting my friend and colleague Vasilis (http://www.vasilisdakos.info/), who recently started a professorship at Uni Montpellier. It was already quite warm, and so perfect conditions to get my fucked up knee back in shape. I was able to do three really nice rides around Montpellier. Very lovely city, very wild area - highly recommendable!